Carnesecca Arena was quiet, unimaginably quiet for a fan-base that had witnessed its team’s best start in five seasons, along with a return to the national rankings for the first time in nearly four years.

The goodwill from the first five weeks of the season was suddenly gone and replaced with sarcastic claps, as No. 20 St. John’s spent the first 20 minutes of Friday’s game against Saint Mary’s getting battered like Joe Frazier against George Foreman, knocked down, over and over, in an embarrassing first half which ended with the Red Storm down by 15, outrebounded by 16 and shooting 24 percent from the field.

But as the second half began, things turned around.

With a dominant defensive display, St. John’s mounted a memorable comeback to beat the Gaels 53-47, for its fifth straight win, holding Saint Mary’s to 14 points in the second half. A victory against Long Beach State on Monday would give the Red Storm (9-1) their best start in 24 years.

Before the rally, the questions that plagued the Johnnies coming into the season — their lack of size, lack of depth and sluggish half-court offense — were again concerns. The reality of Red Storm basketball over the past decade-and-a-half looked as if it had returned.

But then, the season took its latest step away from past disappointments.

“It was as dramatic a tale of two halves that I can recall since I’ve been here. If I look back over the career, I can’t really remember a more black-and-white example of dramatically different halves,” coach Steve Lavin said. “I really felt our players were uptight. They cared too much [and] that sometimes creates anxiety and apprehension and then you start to think … the only way to get through that is turning up the heat defensively.”

Largely due to a stretch of 10-plus minutes without a field goal, St. John’s trailed 33-18 at halftime, but the Red Storm started the second half with a 15-4 run which turned the comatose crowd crazed.

After getting abused by Brad Waldow for 19 points in the first half, the smaller Sir’Dominic Pointer (11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists) switched to the Gaels big man with Chris Obekpa in foul trouble.

Pointer caused problems with his athleticism and limited Waldow to seven points in the second half by fronting him.

While the defense held Saint Mary’s (6-3) to 26 percent shooting from the field in the second half, D’Angelo Harrison (21 points) carried an offense that had no other reliable option — Phil Greene and Rysheed Jordan shot a combined 3-for- 20 — scoring seven straight points to cut the lead to four with 10 minutes remaining, before Pointer put the Johnnies ahead for good with 8:04 remaining.

Unable to pull away, St. John’s put itself in a precarious position when Obekpa fouled out with a 48-47 lead with 2:42 remaining, but the unrelenting Red Storm defense held the Gaels scoreless the rest of the game.

“We put ourselves in a hole and we’ve been there before, so we just grinded it out and got stops,” Harrison said. “Our team’s always gonna fight.”